The present invention relates to large stator bars that are used in power and industrial generators, handling these bars before they are installed in a stator, and fitting header clips to the bars during assembly.
Stator bars are typically large, long and heavy, e.g., 35 feet long and hundreds of pounds (lbs.). The bars are generally straight and extend the length of a stator. When seated in a stator, the straight sections of the stator bars form a cylindrical array around a rotor. The ends of the stator bars extend axially from opposite ends of the stator. The end portion of the stator bars extend from the ends of the stator and are curved to form end turns. The ends of stator bars are connected through copper or stainless steel fittings and water-cooled connections to form continuous hydraulic winding circuits.
The ends of the bars are each connected to a hydraulic header clip. The hydraulic header clip serves as an electrical and a cooling flow connection for the armature winding bar. The hydraulic header clip is a hollow connector that includes an enclosed chamber for ingress or egress of a cooling liquid, typically deionized water. At one open end, the clip encloses the ends of the copper strands of the armature winding bar.
A braze alloy bonds the end sections of the strands to each other and to the hydraulic header clip. A hydraulic header clip fitted to the end of the stator bar is brazed to the bar. The bar is preferably held vertically during the braze operation.
To hold the bar vertically there is a need for a braze station that can accommodate a long stator bar in a vertical position. There is also a need for supports that can position a stator bar vertically in a braze station and rotate the stator bar from a horizontal position to a vertical position. In the past, stator bars have been positioned vertically while the clip is brazed. Buildings with very high roofs and brazing workstations elevated above the vertical end of a stator bar have been required for brazing vertical stator bars. These high roof buildings and elevated workstations are expensive to construct. There is long-felt need for facilities for brazing stator bars that are advantageous, e.g., less expensive to construct, then prior facilities.